Verstappen says he would never pair two number-one drivers after Ferrari's Mexico clash

Max Verstappen used his pre-race media duties at the São Paulo Grand Prix to deliver a pointed verdict on Ferrari’s driver dynamic, saying he would never build a team around two number-one drivers after watching Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc collide at the Mexican Grand Prix.

Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur had already spoken to both drivers on Thursday evening in São Paulo in an attempt to clear the air, but Verstappen — speaking to Viaplay — framed the incident less as a one-off mistake and more as the inevitable consequence of Ferrari’s driver philosophy.

“If you simply had one clear number one and one clear number two, they would have gone through that corner in first and second, and they would have finished first and second as well,” Verstappen said. “Or maybe first and third, but that’s fine too. As a team, you’re still scoring good points.”

Leclerc had suggested the layout of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez played a significant role in the collision, but Verstappen was unmoved by that explanation. For the Red Bull driver, the crash was confirmation of a long-held belief about team construction.

“I’ve said it before — people very often disagree with me — but if I were a team principal, if I had my own team, I would never sign two number-one drivers, because then you get this,” he continued. “One isn’t going to give way to the other, because of course they both think they can win, and that’s how I am too.”

When asked whether that philosophy shapes his own career decisions, the four-time world champion acknowledged the reality is not always so straightforward. “Sometimes you might not have a choice in that either, but it does make everything more complicated,” he said.

Verstappen pointed to his own dominant 2023 season as evidence that a competitive car renders a second star driver unnecessary. His individual points tally that year would have been sufficient to win the constructors’ championship outright. “If you have a good car, then you don’t necessarily need two number-one drivers — just a decent number two,” he said. “Throughout Formula 1 history, it’s also always been clear that something like that works perfectly well, even for years.”

The remark carried a broader historical weight. Verstappen’s comments appeared to reference not only his own partnership with Sergio Pérez, but also Hamilton’s years alongside Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes and Michael Schumacher’s long-running arrangement with Rubens Barrichello at Ferrari — both pairings widely regarded as textbook examples of the number-one and number-two model.